Single-use plastics to be used for road laying in Puducherry

The Union Territory of Puducherry in a bid to turn green will be laying roads using single-use plastics. A 200-metre stretch of road at Edayarapalayam in the Puducherry-Cudallore belt will get a plastic road.

The road laid by Ariyankuppam Panchayat commune under the supervision of Professor R. Vasudevan of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, who has patented the technology, will be thrown open on April 19.

Prof. Vasudevan while speaking to IANS said, "We will be using 500 kg of plastic seized by the Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC) and the 200 metre road. The seized plastic would be cut into pieces of 2.5 sq cm and used for laying the road."

Department of Science, Technology, and Environment (DSTE) officials of Puducherry told IANS that the use of plastics would reduce the bitumen requirement by 10 per cent and would lead to a reduction in the cost of laying roads.

The Union Territory of Puducherry generates around 25 tonnes of single-use plastic (SUP) a day and a part of this will end up in the laying of roads. A good volume of this plastic that cannot be recycled will be used for refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Professor Vasudevan will be conducting a one-day workshop for PWD officials, Engineers, DSTE, the Local administration department, Pollution department officials, and local bodies on April 18 before commencing the work on April 19.

DSTE officials told IANS that industrial plastic waste is being sent to 20 recycling units in Puducherry and that a plant of 25,000-tonne capacity is also being set up to convert the plastic to RDF.

The Union territory is also conducting an intensive crackdown against single-use plastics and the Department of Science, Technology, and Environment is involved in conducting raids to seize these plastics and penalizing the manufacturers and distributors.

Sources in DSTE told IANS that after the trial 200 metre stretch road is completed using plastic more community roads will be converted into plastic laying and this would be taken up on a larger scale across the territory. (AS/IANS)

Keywords: Roads, Plastic, Puducherry, Single-use plastic, Infrastructure, Construction, Environment, Development.